


The Path to The Forgotten Portrait

by CrayolaColor



Category: Ib (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, i love garry but i also love making him suffer lol, the forgotten portrait
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 03:20:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16338848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrayolaColor/pseuds/CrayolaColor
Summary: A collection of scene rewrites/drabbles leading up to the Forgotten Portrait ending. Revised versions of drabbles I did as a series on Tumblr a year or so ago.





	1. You Failed the Doll Room

If Garry had been anxious before, he was bordering on panicking now. This time, however, it wasn't for his own sake- It was for Ib's. His young friend had been left alone with a painting, and some part of him felt that it was his own fault.  
  
He should've known there was something off about Mary. _Noone_ was that ridiculously cheery in a situation like this.  
  
With a frustrated sigh, he smacked the book shut and put it back in the bookshelf. "Alright, enough of this, I've got to find them before..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.  
  
He left the room, moving at a much quicker pace than he had been before the startling discovery of Mary's true nature. But he had to admit he wasn't sure where he was going. As far as he knew, he'd been everywhere except for...  
  
He turned to look at the middle door. It was locked, last he'd checked, and every time he got near it he felt this inexplicable feeling of _dread_ that made him feel like he should stay away. But, there was nowhere else left to go, was there?  
  
Putting his fears aside for the sake of his friend, he headed to the door. But, upon turning the doorknob, it seemed it was still locked. "Hmm.." He looked around. Maybe there was a key somewhere that he'd missed?  
  
_"Eheehee!"_  
  
Garry jumped, stifling a scream, and turned around to see the head of the doll he had accidentally beheaded earlier laying next to the door. He would have just walked away, but he noticed something that made him stop.  
  
There appeared to be another paintball poking out of the hole where the doll's head had been ripped off it's body. "Oh no.. Why me..?" He whispered, realizing he had no other choice but to _go get it_.  
  
He took a deep breath, and slowly approached the doll head. He knelt down in front of it, and carefully took the paintball out. As with all the others, it disappeared shortly after he grabbed ahold of it.  
  
To Garry's surprise, as soon as the paintball was gone, the doll head jumped up and hopped away all the way to the door- which opened on it's own- and disappeared inside the room, laughing the whole way.  
  
The young man stared after it for a moment, and it slowly dawned on him that he was supposed to follow it. He really wasn't sure how much more of this he could take before he went insane. But, he accepted his fate as it was, and headed back to the now-unlocked and partially open door.  
  
Cautiously and ever-so-reluctantly, he pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked inside. Oh. _Oh._ Now he understood why he felt such a foreboding feeling about the room in question- It was filled with more of those _dolls_.  
  
He felt like every single one of them was glaring at him with enough sinister intent to somehow kill him just by that. Every part of him was telling him to run away as fast as he could and never come back again, but..  
  
There, on the floor at the other side of the room, was a small white ball of paint. Of course. It was the last one he needed, and he had no other choice but to go get it. "A..Alright.. Just.. Grab the paintball, and then you can run..." He reassured himself.  
  
Taking great lengths to avoid eyecontact with any of the dolls, he slowly made his way forward until he was standing in front of the paintball. He knelt down and grabbed it, and just like all the others, it disappeared.  
  
He let out a quiet sigh of relief, glad to be done with it. He stood up, only to accidentally make eyecontact with a large painting of one of the dolls. Failing to silence a quiet scream, he quickly turned and speedwalked back towards the door.  
  
It was closed. He felt a stab of fear- He could've sworn he left it open. "Okay, okay, it's fine.. I probably.. I probably closed it out of habit and forgot..." He reassured himself, grabbing the doorknob and turning it.  
  
It was locked.  
  
"Oh, no.. Nonono-" He froze, as text appeared across the door in a dripping red substance he oh-so-hoped was just paint.  
  
_'Let's have a treasure hunt! Who, who, who has the key!'_ The text read.  
  
Before he had a chance to fully register what was happening, a loud bell toll suddenly rang through the room. " _Ah!_ " He winced, and when he opened his eyes again, the whole room was washed in a shade of dark blue.  
  
He inhaled sharply, and turned around, only to see that the painting at the other end of the room was slowly climbing out. For a minute he stood frozen with panic, his eyes wide as he stared at the menacing doll portrait as it climbed further and further through the frame.  
  
Then, with a jolt, the words on the door registered in his head. "I have to find the key..!" He ran around the room, tearing apart doll after doll in hopes of finding what he was looking for. "Please, please..." He avoided looking at the doll portrait, but with every second that passed he could feel it getting closer to him.  
  
He was running out of time, and out of dolls to search. He frantically looked around for another one to grab, and just has he spotted it, the bell toll rang again. The whole room shook, and he screamed, falling backwards onto the floor.  
  
As he looked up, he met eyes with the painting, now fully climbed out of the portrait.  
  
**"H e l l o  G a r r y.  L e t ' s  b e  f r i e n d s."**  
  
  
  
. . . You failed the Doll Room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funfact: Failing the doll room adds like 2 points to Garry's doom counter I think, hence why I included it as a lead up to the Forgotten Portrait ending. :) This and the next one are standalone from eachother, but the final four will be direct continuations of one another. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this!! Leave a comment if you can! 
> 
> -Color


	2. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ib gives a very noble answer to a difficult question, and Mary makes a decision.

Ib and Mary were all alone. Garry had been separated from them earlier, and the two of them had no choice but to continue forward and hope that they would find a way to reunite with their friend.  
  
Ib was nervous, but Mary seemed to be making the best of it, as she cheerily skipped along beside her with a smile on her face. Then, she stopped skipping, slowing down. "Hey, Ib?"  
  
Ib blinked, slowing down as well. "Yeah..?"  
  
"Theoretically... If only two of us could leave. Who would you go with?" Mary tilted her head to the side, acting like it was just an innocent, theoretical question that had no merit  in real life.  
  
Ib hesitated for a moment, looking down. "I.. couldn't choose." She responded. "So I wouldn't. I'd sacrifice myself, and let the two of you get out together."  
  
A look of shock passed over Mary's face. "Ib! You couldn't do that! You'd.. You'd never see anyone ever again! Your parents, your friends, me and Garry..."  
  
"I know that, but, you and Garry don't deserve to be left behind here either. So, if only two of us could leave, I wouldn't want to leave either one of you behind. But.. that's just in theory, right? We'll get out of here together, all three of us!" Ib smiled widely at Mary, and picked up her pace again.  
  
"Yeah.. Together." But Mary knew it wasn't 'just a theory'. Only two people could leave the Fabricated World, and if Ib wouldn't agree to leave Garry behind, then there was only one choice left.  
  
Clutching the palette knife in her pocket, she recited an ever familiar poem in her head. _He loves me, he loves me not..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's very, very short, but fun anyway. Poor innocent Ib, she has no idea. 
> 
> I feel like this one ought to have been the first chapter and You Failed the Doll Room the second, but this was the order I wrote them in initially and had them in on Tumblr so, *shrug* But, to clarify, these events transpire before the events of You Failed the Doll Room.


	3. The Toybox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mary receives a 'present' that was not, in fact, meant for her.

Ib felt like her and her friend had spent hours wandering around the strange, crayon drawn portion of the world, until they were finally presumably lead to what they were looking for. Though, upon approaching it, it wasn't exactly what either of them were expecting.  
  
"This is the toy box..?" Garry looked down into what appeared to be a box with a bottomless pit inside. "It's awfully big.. And I can't say I see the bottom." He blinked, standing upright and turning to his young companion. "Is there really a key in there, I wonder?"  
  
Ib started to reply, but before she could, an eerily familiar, overly cheery voice sounded from behind them. "I dunno. You wanna find out?"   
  
Without giving them any time to react, Mary shoved the two of them forward with a strange amount of force for a little girl, sending them plummeting down into the toy box. Down, down, down they fell, screaming the whole way.   
  
_Thump_   
  
Ib smacked into the floor, thankfully not hard enough to break any bones or cause any serious damage, but she sure was sore all over. Thankful she hadn't landed headfirst, she sat up, wincing.   
  
Slowly standing up, she felt her pockets, and with a jolt of panic she realized she couldn't feel her rose. She checked again just to be sure, but no, it was definitely gone. _Oh no, I must have dropped it!_  
  
"Garry, I think I dropped my-" Oh. He wasn't there either. She looked around some more, blinking. "Garry..? Hellooo?" She called, but got no response. She hoped he was okay, and was somewhere close by. She _really_ didn't want to be separated from him again.   
  
She started walking, looking around for her friend as she did. "Garry!? Where are you!?" She needed to find her rose too, but finding Garry came first. She had been wandering for a few minutes, when she finally spotted him laying on the floor in a similar position to when she'd first found him.   
  
"Garry..?" She knelt down beside him, gently poking him. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Mm..?" He carefully sat up, wincing. "Ow.. I hit my head." He said quietly, rubbing at the back of his head. Blinking a couple of times, he pulled his rose out of his pocket to inspect it. It was missing a couple of petals, but could certainly have been worse.   
  
"Are you okay?" Ib repeated, tugging on his jacket.  
  
"Hm?" He turned his head to Ib. "Oh! Yes, I'm alright." He reassured her, standing up. "A little sore, but could be worse. And you?"   
  
Ib stood up as well, smiling faintly. "I'm fine too." Then she remembered. Looking down slightly, she went on. "But.. I um... I can't find my rose..! I..I think I dropped it on the way down, I'm sorry!" She said quickly, expecting him to be mad. She was supposed to keep her rose safe, but instead she'd gone and lost it. Of course he'd be mad, why wouldn't he?   
  
She didn't realize, but she was starting to tear up as she spoke.   
  
"Whoa, calm down Ib, it's alright..! It could have happened to either of us." Garry quickly responded, looking somewhat surprised. "Though, we do need to find it before anything happens to it..." He added on, a look of concern crossing his face.   
  
While he didn't say it, Ib understood why- Mary was after them, and if she got ahold of the rose.. She didn't really want to think about what the painting would likely do with it.   
  
"Hey, Ib, I have an idea. Would you like to ride on my shoulders for a little bit? You might be able to spot it easily from a higher vantage point." Garry suggested.   
  
Ib smiled, and nodded. "Okay!"   
  
Garry smiled back at her, and picked her up, putting her on his shoulders. "Alright, let's go!" He started walking, letting Ib look around from her higher view point.   
  
Eventually, she spotted something. "What's that?" She pointed of the direction of the thing she saw. "I don't think it's my rose.." She realized, slightly disappointed.   
  
"It doesn't look like it, but let's go check it out anyway." Garry walked towards the thing on the ground, setting Ib down as he knelt down to pick it up. "Ah! It's the key we came here for. Well, that's good. At least we have that out of the way." He handed the key to Ib. "Alright, now we just need to find-"   
  
" _Ooo_! What's this? A present for _me_?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeere we go. :)


	4. He Loves Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which all of Mary's efforts are finally paying off. :)

"It's _soooo_ pretty~!" Mary giggled, spinning around on her tippy-toes with Ib's red rose in hand. "Can I keep it? Yes? Thank you so much!" Beaming from ear to ear, she twirled around to face Ib and Garry as they approached.   
  
"Ib, Garry!" She practically bounced up and down with excitement. "Look what I found! Isn't it pretty?" She showed off the rose, careful to keep it out of their reach.   
  
"Mary!" Garry took a step towards the painting, feigning the confidence he definitely wasn't feeling. "You _know_ that rose isn't yours.. Give it back to Ib." He knew there was no way the painting was going to listen to him of all people, but he had to try for Ib's sake.   
  
"Oh! This is _yours_?" Mary turned to Ib with a quizzical look, tilting her head. "I _thought_ it looked familiar! Do you really want it back?" She frowned with false disappointment.  
  
Ib nodded quickly. "Yes.." Mary couldn't agree to give it back that quickly, right? There was some reason she was doing this, and Ib wasn't sure she wanted to know what that reason was.  
  
"Hmm.. Well..." Mary pretended to think for a minute- In truth, she'd already planned out all of this quite awhile back. Grinning, she looked at the two of them, and spoke again. "Do you wanna trade _Garry's_ rose?" She motioned towards the young man as she said his name.  
  
Both of them looked shocked for a moment, glancing at eachother.   
  
"It would only be fair!" Mary said. "A rose for a rose! Or.. I _could_ just keep this one!" She giggled. "It's your choice!"  
  
"I..." Garry knew exactly what he'd be risking if he did what Mary asked. He knew that the painting hated _him_ specifically. He didn't know why, but he knew that she did. And if he gave her his rose...  
  
But, if he _didn't_ , he'd be risking Ib's life. And he knew right then and there that saying no wasn't an option. "Okay, Mary." He sighed. "You win." He pulled his slightly-damaged rose out of his pocket, and started to head towards Mary.   
  
"Wait!" Ib tugged on his jacket, looking up at him with tears in his eyes. " _Please_ don't!"   
  
"Hey, don't worry, Ib.. Everything will be okay." Garry reassured her, though he had a very bad feeling that things wouldn't turn out as well as he hoped. Turning back to Mary, he held his rose out to her.   
  
"Yay!" Mary yanked the blue rose from Garry's hand, dropping the red one on the ground. "Pretty, pretty flower!" She flashed Garry a decidedly _not_ innocent grin, and took off to the other side of the toybox.   
  
She ran up the stairs and down the hall, feeling happier than she had in quite some time. Soon, Garry would be out of the way, and her and Ib could leave together. She rounded the corner into the smaller room that lied before the room that housed her painting, and grabbed ahold of a petal of of Garry's rose. This was it, finally, she'd be rid of this gallery and of _him_ forever.   
  
She slowly ripped the petal off. _"He loves me..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the things I like so much about Garry is despite being absolutely terrified throughout the whole game, in a situation where he KNEW he'd be putting his own life on the line, he chose to do so in favor of making sure that Ib was safe. He really is a genuinely good person imo. 
> 
> Now MARY, on the other hand...
> 
> (on another note, for some reason while rereading this mary was giving me aquamarine from su vibes lmao)


	5. He Loves Me Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mary finally reaches her goal, and Garry falls asleep forever.

Garry picked Ib's rose up off the ground, and turned around to give it back to her. "Here you go, Ib. Keep it safe, alright?" He smiled faintly at her, holding the rose out for her to take.  
  
Ib took the rose, holding it close. "Thank you.." She whispered, shuffling her feet nervously. "I..I'm sorry.." She sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes.  
  
"Oh- Ib, it's alright! There's nothing for you to apologize for, it's not your fault that Mary decided to do _this_." Garry told her, feeling bad that the girl was blaming herself for all of that. "Besides, everything will be fine! We'll just catch up to Mary and get my rose back!"  
  
He really wasn't sure if that was true. By now Mary had to be far ahead of them, and he couldn't imagine that she was just going to keep his rose intact and admire it. She wanted him gone, and she had just gained a perfectly easy way to make that happen.  
  
Ib nodded, though, and tucked her rose safely back in her pocket. "O..Okay." She wiped her tears away again, and tried to smile as best she could.  
  
Then, suddenly, the whole place was washed in blue. Garry froze for a moment, inhaling sharply, as memories from the doll room flooded through his head. Ones that had still been oddly vague up until now.  
  
He shook his head to clear it. "Oh no, not this again! Ib, I think we're about to have to run!" He grabbed the girl's hand, and eyed the staircase at the other end of the toybox. "Let's go!" He took off, trying not to make eyecontact with any of the dolls, mannequins, and mannequin heads that had just suddenly come to life.  
  
Ib clutched her friend's hand tightly, keeping pace with him as much as her much-smaller legs would allow.  
  
Soon they reached the stairs, and once they were about halfway up them, Ib let go of Garry's hand, but the two of them still kept running until they were all the way at the top of the stairs. At the very top step, Garry lost his balance and tripped, smacking both his knee and his elbow into the floor.  
  
"Ah! Ow--" He winced, slowly standing up and leaning against the wall behind him. He could barely catch his breath. Some part of him felt like something was wrong, but he brushed it off. He wasn't really used to running that fast anyway, and especially not up a long staircase.  
  
"Are you okay..?" Ib asked him, looking up at him with a worried expression on her face.  
  
Once he caught his breath, he nodded. "I'm fine, I'm just not used to that kind of running, I'm afraid." He laughed a bit. "M..Maybe I should start practicing more once we get out of here!" He added on, smiling at her.  
  
"Oh well, nevermind that, let's keep going." The two of them proceeded down the hallway, and as they got further and further, they began to hear Mary's voice echoing from down the hall.  
  
_"He loves me..."_  
  
Garry's eyes widened- He knew that game, and what it entailed. Picking petals off of a flower one by one, until there was nothing left but the stem. Was that what she was doing with his rose?  
  
_"He loves me not..."_  
  
He knew he wasn't imagining it now. Pain skyrocketed through his body all at once. How many petals were even left on his rose? Now he felt a lot more concerned about the couple he had lost due to the fall into the toybox.  
  
He slowed down his pace, realizing that if this kept up there was no way he was even going to make it to the end of the hall. He couldn't say he had a very high pain tolerance, and the more petals were ripped off his rose the worse it was getting.  
  
_"He loves me..."_  
  
And, that was all it took. Suddenly overwhelmed by pain and exhaustion all at once, he collapsed. That was it. He was dying. "I..Ib! Wait!" He called after his friend, who had only just noticed that Garry wasn't following her anymore.  
  
"Garry..?" She walked back to him, kneeling down in front of him with tears in her eyes. "C..Come on, we're almost there..!" She tugged on his jacket sleeve, practically begging him to stand up and continue down the hallway with her.  
  
He'd already felt like he was going to cry before, this was just making it worse. "Oh.. Ib, I'm so sorry, I-... I don't want to lie to you, but I don't want to tell you the truth either..." He looked down, his voice shaking as he spoke.  
  
"J..Just.. Go on ahead."  
  
Ib, struggling to keep from breaking down completely, shook her head. "No..! I'm not leaving you here!" She adamantly refused, staying right where she was.  
  
"Please, Ib... If.. If you need help, I'll come running. Go on ahead..." That was a lie, and he felt immensely bad for lying to her immediately after he said it, but he would do anything if it meant that Ib would get out of here safely.  
  
Ib stared at him for another moment, then slowly nodded. "Okay.." Still so reluctant, she stood up, wiping the tears from her eyes, and started speedwalking back down the hall. She paused for a moment, looking back at him, and then ran as fast as she could to catch up with Mary.  
  
Garry took a deep, shaky breath. He was going to die. There was no way around it- There was no way that Ib would catch up with Mary in time to stop her, and there was nothing else that could be done.  
  
He slowly stood back up one last time, and stumbled over to the wall, sitting down against it. With Ib no longer there to witness it, he finally broke down crying. His body hurt all over, and he could hardly breathe.  
  
He didn't want to die this way, but there was nothing to be done about it. He regretted lying to Ib with all of his being, he wished he had told her the truth, if he had insisted enough she probably would have gone anyway.  
  
But it was too late. Too late to go back now. He could feel his energy being drained from him. And if he listened, he could still hear Mary's voice from down the hall.  
  
_"He loves me... He loves me not..."_  
  
He closed his eyes, finally managing to stop crying. The pain was ebbing away, replaced simply by numbness. The world around him seemed to be fading, like it was no longer there.  
  
Vaguely, he heard Mary's voice one last time from down the hall.  
  
_"He loves me... **He loves me not**."_  
  
And just like that, everything slipped away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was both fun and painful to write lmao. Poor Garry. He had no idea, but Ib knew he was lying. She's not that dumb. One thing I like a lot better about this version than the one I published on Tumblr so long ago is that I think I got the emotions that Garry was feeling across a lot better than I did when I first wrote this. [Which makes this all that more angsty :)]
> 
> One more chapter left and it'll be the end. I hope you guys have enjoyed this so far, and please leave a comment if you wanna tell me what you think!!


	6. Forgotten Portrait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mary pays for her crimes, and Ib forgets something very, very important to her.

Ib entered the room just in time to see Mary pluck the last petal off of Garry's rose, and drop the stem on the floor. " _Loves me!_ " She exclaimed, spinning around happily. "Yaaaaaaay!! Now I can-" She abruptly stopped when she noticed Ib, and took off out of the room.   
  
Ib stared in horror at the scattered petals and barren stem that layed on the floor in front of her. " _Nooo_..." Tears streamed from her eyes, as she knew what it meant. She choked back a sob, and turned and ran back in the direction she'd came.   
  
She soon came back to the place where she'd left Garry, and was momentarily surprised that he wasn't in the same spot he had been when she left. But then she spotted him, leaning completely still against the wall.   
  
She knelt down in front of him, and stared for a minute. He looked like he'd been crying. "Garry...?" She tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. "Garry, wake up..! It's me.. _Please_..." But there was nothing she could do to wake him.  
  
Finally giving in to her emotions, she hugged him, tightly, crying her eyes out. She kept crying until she physically _couldn't_ anymore, and even then she still felt awful. She reluctantly let go of him, sliding back, and stared at him for another moment.   
  
Though somewhere inside of her, she knew that he was gone forever, she repeatedly denied it. She told herself he was just resting, and he would catch up to her eventually. _He_ _had to_. She couldn't _bare_ the thought of leaving him behind.  
  
As she was getting ready to stand back up, she noticed his lighter had fallen out of his pocket. She picked it up, and flicked it on, staring at the flame for a few moments. She remembered there was a path blocked by vines at the end of the hall. Maybe she could burn them..?  
  
She slowly stood up, and turned the lighter off. For a moment, she continued to stare at Garry, but forced herself to look away from her friend. She started to put the lighter in one of her pockets, but realized it had a hole in it. As for the other one.. It was too full for her to put the lighter in without accidentally crushing her rose.   
  
She set the lighter down for a moment, and rummaged around in her pocket until she grabbed ahold of something. She pulled it out, and opening her palm, discovered that it was the small piece of lemon candy that Garry had given her much earlier.   
  
_"Here, Ib. Check the pocket of my coat."_  
 _"There you are! You can eat that, if you'd like."_  
  
Garry's voice rang in her head, and she started to tear up again. She unwrapped the lemon candy and popped it in her mouth, rubbing the tears away from her eyes. She put the lighter in her pocket, and headed down the hallway back towards where she'd seen the blocked pathway.   
  
She soon came to the vines again, and pulling the lighter out of her pocket, set them ablaze. She stepped back as the vines violently exploded into flames, burning quickly, and for a moment she was afraid the whole place would be set on fire. But the fire stopped once the vines had turned to ashes, and the path was cleared for the young girl to continue her trek.   
  
Entering the next room, something caught Ib's eye- A painting at the other end of the room. She walked towards it, and stopping in front of it, examined it. The entire middle section was torn out of it, leaving only the frame and the yellow roses around the edges. She looked down at the plaque below it, and read outloud a name that she had grown all too familiar with.   
  
" _Mary_."  
  
Before she had time to dwell on it, Ib heard footsteps running up the hall behind her. "Ib!" She turned around, only to see the aforementioned painting standing in the doorway, staring at her with wide eyes.   
  
" _Why_ and _how_ are you in here!?"   
  
"I.. I was just-" Before Ib could finish her sentence, Mary suddenly spoke again with a more serious tone than she'd ever heard from the painting before.   
  
“You shouldn’t be here, Ib. **_Leave_** , right now!” Mary made eyecontact with Ib, and took a step forward. Without giving her a chance to react, she suddenly shouted. " _ **LEEEEAAAAAVE**_!" Clutching the palette knife she had grabbed earlier, she ran at Ib.   
  
Panicking, Ib turned back around towards the framed painting. For a moment she had no idea what to do, but then an idea came into her head. She rummaged through her pocket until she grabbed ahold of Garry's lighter, and flicked it on. Without a moment's hesitation, she lit Mary's painting aflame. The painting exploded into flames just as violently as the vines, and the glass shattered, falling all over the floor.   
  
Mary _screamed_. "NooOOOO!"   
  
Ib turned around just in time to see Mary burst into flames right along with her painting. Within a few seconds, the blonde-haired girl was gone, replaced with a pile of ash. The palette knife fell to the floor with a soft _clink,_ and then the whole room was eerily quiet.  
  
And now, Ib was truly alone, as both of her friends had met their awful fates. With a heavy heart, Ib left the room, and her footsteps lead her to the little pink house that the key they had found in the toybox unlocked. She pushed back now painful memories that felt like they were long ago, though in reality it had only been a few hours ago at the most, and unlocked the door.   
  
Pushing the door open, she entered the room, only to be met by a long, dark staircase going down. She walked, and walked, and walked down the stairs. She could barely see anything, and she was beginning to think that she would be trapped in a loop of walking down stairs forever.   
  
But then, finally, she reached the bottom. And although the room at the bottom was still dark, she felt a spark of hope. She recognized where she was. It looked just like the real gallery, the one she had come from. This wasn't _it_ , she remembered clearly that the walls in the real gallery were stark white, not pure black like these. But she was close, closer than she'd ever been.   
  
She ran towards the staircase that went up to the large painting on the wall, the painting that had started everything. Surely, if everything had started there, then everything would end there as well? Finally, she reached the painting. Staring up at it, she wondered what she was supposed to do. But after a moment, she watched, astonished, as the frame disappeared.  
  
This was it. Finally, finally, she was going home..!   
  
Just as she was getting ready to jump in the painting, she heard an achingly familiar voice from behind her.   
  
"Ib!"   
  
"Garry...?" She turned around, surprised to see her friend standing there.  
  
" _There_ you are!" He sounded out of breath, like he had ran all the way there. "I've been looking for you everywhere! I'm glad you're alright, coming all the way here on your own, and all." He told her, smiling.   
  
Feeling hopeful, Ib smiled back. She was right afterall! Garry was okay- They could both go home together, and go back to their lives. Everything would be okay.  
  
But then, he continued. "But nevermind all of that, I think I found a way out! It's this way, come on." He turned to start heading back towards the staircase, but Ib stayed where she was.  
  
"Garry.." Ib spoke up softly, shuffling her feet. "I.. I think _this_ is the way out. Isn't this where all the weird stuff started happening? Wouldn't it make sense for it to be the way out?" She motioned towards the painting as she spoke. "See! The frame even disappeared when I walked up to it. This _has_ to be it!"   
  
His expression shifted to slight anger, and his voice reflected that as he responded. "No, Ib. I know what I found. It's downstairs. This _can't_ be the exit, so come on." He started to walk off again, expecting Ib to follow, but stopped when she didn't.  
  
There was something very, very off about this, Ib realized. And with that realization, she also accepted something else she hadn't even let herself consider up until now. _Garry is dead. Mary killed him- I saw her rip the last petal off of his rose. This.. This isn't real!_ "No, I'm sorry. _This_ is the exit, there's no way it's anything else. This isn't real! You're not real!"   
  
A shocked expression crossed his face for a few seconds. "Ib, wai-"   
  
But she didn't listen, she turned around and took a running leap into the painting, not looking back. For a few moments, everything was black. When she came to, she found herself standing in front of the same painting in the real gallery.   
  
**You can't remember what you were doing.**  
  
Ib blinked twice, staring up at the painting. She couldn't remember how long she had been standing there staring at it. She really couldn't tell what it was supposed to be- She guessed she must have zoned out while trying to figure it out. She glanced down at the plaque below it. '??? World.' She couldn't read the first word in the name. It frustrated her that there were so many words she didn't understand, but oh well. She'd learn them later on, hopefully.  
  
Considering she had zoned out like she had, she assumed she had been standing in front of the same painting for quite some time, so she wandered off to somewhere else in the gallery. As she rounded the corner, a painting on the wall caught her eye. "Huh?" She walked up to it, looking up at it- It was a portrait of a young man, leaning against a wall, asleep.   
  
Something about the painting felt familiar, in an awfully sad sort of way. She couldn't really place what it was. As far as she knew, she had never seen the painting anywhere before. So why did she feel that way about it?  
  
She studied the painting for a few moments, trying to figure out what it was about it that was so achingly familiar to her. She glanced down at the name tag- 'Forgotten Portrait.' She didn't remember seeing that name anywhere either.   
  
She looked back up at the painting, and had been staring at it for a few minutes when she heard her mother's voice from behind.   
  
"Ib! There you are. You wandered off." The woman approached her daughter, stopping to look at the painting with her for a moment. "Oh? Did you find one you like?" She asked, looking at the girl.   
  
"Kind of..?" Ib wasn't sure if she could say she _liked_ it exactly, but she did seem to be somewhat drawn to it for some odd reason. "There's something about it that makes me feel sad, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe just the name..?" The name _was_ sort of sad, but that couldn't be it- She had those odd feelings long before she had thought to look down at the plaque.   
  
"Maybe so." Her mother replied, patting her on the head. "Well, why don't we go look at something else? There's a sculpture of a pretty red rose down stairs I bet you might like." She continued.   
  
Ib hesitated for a moment, almost reluctant to leave the painting for some reason, but then agreed. "Okay." She started to walk away with her mother, but just as they were almost at the staircase, she paused to look back at the painting again.   
  
_Forgotten Portrait... I wonder, why is it forgotten?_  
  
  
. . .   
  
  
**END: Forgotten Portrait.**  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAND, that's a wrap! Quite the angsty ending, huh? As a note, I would reasonably think a nine year old would be old enough to understand the concept of death, so I decided to write the 'Garry is sleeping' line as simply being very strong denial on Ib's part. (Still extremely sad though, whichever way you decide to write it) 
> 
> BUT ANYWAY, I really hope you enjoyed reading this!! I sure enjoyed writing it, lmao. Please leave a comment if you can, I very much appreciate feedback!!
> 
> Thanks for reading!!
> 
> \- Color
> 
> (funfact: i have a discord and i love doing ib roleplays,, pls add me if you're interested,, it's CrayolaColor#0154)


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